


Hunted

by BloodyJerk



Series: Gems Hunted [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: But 4 am is the perfect time to try and become better, F/F, Humans know about Gems and hate them, Hunting, I never wrote a one shot, Not Beta Read, One Shot, So they are still Gems but were born on Earth and never part of any intergalactic wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 08:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13609176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodyJerk/pseuds/BloodyJerk
Summary: In this society gems are nothing but a risk.Their powers can't be calculated, their ways are too different to ever live with us in peace.Their bodies, on the other hand, are worth millions...(Gems are treated like dangerous animals and their remains are sold to the highest bidder. Peridot only tries to survive after losing everyone she loved.)





	Hunted

 It was over.

 

 

It was the only thought in her head, filling it with violence and fear, tears burning her eyes as she crawled on the ground, trying to get away from the hulking figure which was inching closer and closer to her. She had tried to get away, but with the new laws in place they were allowed to shoot and one of their bullets had teared its way through her jeans, her flesh and muscles, at least at felt that way.  
And now she waited, waited till they would grab her and drag her off into one of their labs and kill her for her magical properties, to get to her gem and sell her remains to the highest bidder.

It was over.

She was going to die.

Closing her eyes, feeling her heart rate starting to slow down she questioned whatever they had put into the bullet. Some kind of tranquilizer?  
She couldn't move and soon she couldn't even think, her mind starting to cloud and her body feeling heavy, her breathing going slow and shallow.  
The masked figure finally appeared over her, staring at her with harrowing orange eyes, shining like stars against the dark night sky.  
Rain fell on her face and washed away the remains of her tears and she felt a hand petting her, fingers poking around her mouth and eyes as if she was an animal, examined by a vet.

"I think it was too much, Pearl" The deep voice should have scared her, but all she could think about was how ironic it was for those hunters to give themselves the names of gems.

"Wait, what? Is she unconscious?"

The voice seemed to come from far away, it sounded familiar, somehow, but Peridot couldn't remember. Was too tired to remember, really.

If she was gonna die, she wouldn't spend the last few minutes she had thinking and trying to remember her terrible live.

Her family, which had to live in fear together with their neighbours. Still tolerated by society, but not seen as one of their own.

Then, the men with the guns and the armor, breaking down their door and shooting her brother, dragging them off, the yelling and the desperate cries for help from herself and her friends.

Lapis, getting dragged away by men with machine guns.

The empty looks in the faces of their human neighbours, the silent accusations, the whispers.

Her time in the education center, a jail which dared to call itself a school for things like her.

For gems. At least those which were considered a low risk.

And finally, the hunts. Living in hiding, trying to survive another day in an environment which saw nothing but a fast way to get money in her. Maybe a threat, but the laws changed.

 

The laws changed.

This abstract thought was the first thing she realized, reminded her of her existence when she looked up into blue eyes and a worried face.

A very blurry face, but worried nonetheless.

Had they harmed her Gem? After all, a broken gem was worth next to nothing and the wild hunt would have been for naught.

Peridot still felt heavy and tired and slow, but otherwise fine. Her mind was still filled with fog but she was sure that she would feel some kind of pain or at least off if her Gem would have been scratched or broken.

Or maybe she had felt off all her life so she wouldn't really know what it felt to be physically off for real.

"You did alright Pearl, you just scared her Jasper."

More gem names.

She saw a orange shimmer, just for a second, then a white pearl besides the worried face. The white pearl sat on someone’s forehead, just like Peridot’s gem did and for a second she smiled.

Was this a hallucination? Maybe her brain tried to soothe the knowledge of impending death by showing her visions of others like her.

"Not my fault she ran. Garnet and I tried to talk to her but she panicked. She would have run right into the traffick, I had to do something."

"You were rather panicky yourself" A calm voice, deep and even from afar, then everything shook, the sound of a motor.

Were they in a van?

Why hadn't the hunter just killed her already or sedated her until they got to the laboratories? Did they need her awake for something?

They discussed silently, the deep voice and the pearl and the blue eyes but there was no heat behind it. It sounded just as foggy and slow as Peridot felt and when she finally had the power to turn around, she saw a Amethyst, not only the gem but the person smiling at her.

"Sleep" She soothed her and laid something over her, voice raspy and raw.

Like barbwire.

 

Like barbwire.

The comparison finally seemed to make sense, for a heavenly second it all made sense as Peridot finally awoke again.

But then she opened her eyes and dread filled her.

It was dark around her, she felt something poking in her arm and panic filled her.

Was she in the labs already? When she tried to turn around she realized she was laying on a bed, a blanket thrown over most of her, but her arms laid free.

Something was poking out of the crook of her arm, but otherwise she seemed unharmed and free.

Desperation set in, the tranquilizer not working it's calming magic anymore and Peridot sat up, falling to the side right away but also out of bed.

Pain set in, but she had others problems, so with a groan she crawled forward, still trying her best to flee, even if she had no Idea where to. Now was not the time to check her surrounding or for best laid plans, now was the time to desperately try everything, anything at all, maybe even shatter her own gem just to get away, to make sure she wouldn't have to suffer through all this.

To make sure she wouldn't have to suffer anymore at all.

"Oh no."

Blinding lights forced Peridot to close her eyes with a hiss and she tried to move faster, but hands held her back, someone grabbed her softly at her shoulders.

But nobody dragged her, nobody forced her back to her bed, instead they held her as if she would break any second if touched too roughly.

"Don't, Peridot" The familiar voice whispered, the voice of the worried face. The blue eyes.

"You're safe. I promise, we're beyond the borders. Nobody will harm you."

Gently those hands turned her around, first to lie on her side, then her back and finally arms surrounded her, carried her and sat her down.

When Peridot finally dared to open her eyes she lay in bed again and watery blue eyes looked at her in wonder and worry and ... excitement.

Lapis blocked out the light so Peridot had to blink a few times before she was even able to see her fully.

To finally realize who sat in front of her, the blue hair and the bright blue skin and finally she found her voice again.

"Lapis?" She whispered almost fearfully, "You are alive."

It sounded more like a question but Lapis just nodded, inching closer to her, now that she finally seemed to remember her.

"How?"

Peridot's voice was shaking, she didn't understand. Years ago the government had started to hunt down gems and those like Peridot and her family, which were considered a low threat, had been put into jails and 'safety facilities' while high threat gems like Lapis had been ... been killed.

But Lapis was alive and sitting here, on a bed in a dark room with her, Peridot, years later, after being hunted and so sure she would finally die and maybe meet her again in afterlife.

Maybe that was the case.

"Am I dead?" She finally asked and Lapis shook her head, putting her arms around her and pulling her into a hug.

"No" She whispered, "Thank the stars you're not. You are alive, Peridot. You are alive and you are safe."

She put a little distance between them and looked at her with the same expression that had made Peridot fall for her years ago, "And I found you. After all this time, I finally found you."

 

For a long time, Peridot still felt like she was hunted. She still felt like she was sedated, like she was staring at the world through some fog in her head and medication in her blood to calm her. And she didn't understand but after speaking to Lapis she didn't cared all that much. After speaking to Lapis nothing seemed to really make more sense, it just filled her head with more questions, which were loud and violent once again and she wished back for the fog, but Lapis hugged her and held her close and her voice filled her with a warm she hadn't felt in years.

"They can't get us here" She whispered again and again, whenever Peridot would tense and shake, "They won't get us here."

Until finally, Peridot was able to believe it, at least a little and fall back to sleep. She was still afraid to wake up and realize she had dreamed, to awake on the streets or even worse, in a lab, but she was willing to risk it.

Falling asleep in Lapis arms once again, even if just this once, even if only in a dream, was all she had wished for.

She was willing to risk death for it.


End file.
